The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-04-25
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP.
THE PECULIAR USE THEY MAKE OF
THEIR BIG HORNS.

THEIR BIG HORNS.
Very Scarce and Difficult to KiI1-HOw
and Roll Over Lofty Precipiees - A
FrightfuI Leap.
Of all the game animals in the north
west, and particularly Montana, the Big
Horn or Rocky mountain sheep furnishes
the most sport to huntsmen. Chasing the
buffalo across the plains on horseback ana
killing them with a revolver, which was
at one time the favorite method of hunt
ing the big bison, used to be the ne plus
ultra of Nimrodic amusements in Mon
tana, but since the buffalo have disap-
peared hunters have drifted back into the
mountains where the "Ovis Montana"
are to be found during late years In great
+ abundance There must be lots OF run
scampering over the prairie after l,5OO
pound bull, but there is the heat and Vlo-
lent exercise, not to speak of the danger
Of your horse plunging into pralrle-dog
holeand sending you downward to grass at
ali angle OF Is to 20 degrees. The mountain
sheep is always found among the peaks
and cliffs in cool altitude and pretty near
the timber or perpetual SHOWN line Th1
Big Horn sheep of the Rocky mountains
is a most difficult animal to bag. They
are usually found in pairs, often in f1ocks
of from four to forty, and sometimes IL
bands Of hundred or more. One ole
sheep-hunter, living on Prior's fork, near
here relates that he saw not long ago
flock of eighty-one sheep in the Bitter
Root range and about five years ago,
while scouting through tbo Teton basin,
in northern Wyoming, near the southern
boundary of the Yellowstone National
park, he ran upon band that must have
numbered over 300
EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE.
These animals range all the way from
Rio Grande to the Mackenzie, but at the
limits named they are exceedingly scarce
and most difficult to kill. Their natural
home is among the mountains Of the up
per Yellowstone and Missouri rivers,
Some few are found in Washington terri
tory Oregon, and California, but the ceu-
ter around which they revolve is the
Yellowstone National park and the Dor
derdering counties of Montana, Idaho,
and Wyoming. Particularly are they
plentiful III the mountains from which
they take their name-viz., the Big Horn
Very little is known of the habits of this
rare game animal, even by those who
have written on this subject They rangs
winter and summer alike in the
same ATTITUDES and attitudes, only in
summer they wander farther away than
in the opposite season. During the cold
months they stay on the southern slopes
of the mountains so as to catch the sun.
In the summer they are generally found
On the higher benches where the bunch
grass and mountain clover are abundant.
Among the peaks where they habituate
one of the first things to appear in the
spring is the wild onion or leek, which is
eagerly sought out and devOured by
them This wild plant imparts to the
flesh delightful flavor, and makes the
meat of the Big Horn the most delicious
in the mountains. Their greatest enemy
is the mountain lion. In fact, the prin-
cipal diet of the mountain lion is the
tender offspring of the "Ovis Montana"
When lambs are not to be had, the fierce
North American panther does not object
to feasting on the parents. These rare
sheep are also subject to a sort of scab
! disease, which, when it becomes cpl
denic, sweeps off at short notice scores of
| them, young and old alike The lambs
! are brought forth from the 5th to the Goth
| Of May.
! The "Ovis Montana" is adorned with the
most remarkable headgear imaginable in
! the shape of mOnstrous horns These are
used by them for various purposes, but
| principally as a means of defense. Aston
! ishing as it may seem, they also use their
| immense horns to assist them in descend
ing from one lofty eminence to a lower.
! If in skipping from crag to crag and from
ridge to ridge it should become necessary
to make a jump downward, no matter
what the height, they roll5themselves up
! into kind of ball, vault out into the air,
and, turning succession of somersaults,
keep the ball rolling, so to speak, until
they strike on their powerful horns be-
! low.
VERY HARD TO KILL
The shock would kill an ordinary ami
NAL, but these hardy denizens of the
mountains don't seem to mind it much,
for they spring to their feet and go bound